Threat to children earns him prison

Brent Dickinson of Saratoga Springs gets 1 to 3 years for messages

Updated 10:18 pm, Monday, October 15, 2012

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Image 3 of 4

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Image 4 of 4

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Brent Dickinson, who in March made online threats to kill schoolchildren and the President, arrives at the Saratoga County Courthouse in Ballston Spa, N.Y. October 15, 2012 (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

Threat to children earns him prison

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BALLSTON SPA — A Saratoga Springs man told a judge Monday that he didn't have access to his medication in March when he threatened to kill schoolchildren.

"I was off my meds at the time because they weren't available to me," Brent Dickinson, 33, told Saratoga County Court Judge Jerry Scarano. The judge sentenced Dickinson, who attorneys have said has mental health issues, to 1 to 3 years in prison for pleading guilty in August to the felony count of attempted making a terroristic threat.

District Attorney James Murphy III said in a statement that Dickinson is under a doctor's care and will now have the resources of the county mental health in the future.

Murphy stated that his office takes any threats against children in schools seriously.

"We've seen too many of these people take action on threats that result in death and serious injury," he said. "We have to assist teachers and administrators in making our schools a place to learn and be safe; not to be worried about threats of violence and danger."

Authorities never released the name of school that Dickinson targeted.

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On Monday, the judge also granted the district attorney's office's request for a five-year order of protection banning Dickinson from visiting Skidmore College and all public, private and parochial schools, as well as the local YMCA and public library, places where Dickinson used public computers.

Dickinson still faces federal charges for allegedly threatening President Barack Obama in an online correspondence. That case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Police said Dickinson, who lived at the Gateway Motel on Maple Avenue, visited local schools before his arrest March 2. He used public computers to send menacing messages to the White House website and posted a threat to kill the President from a computer in the Skidmore College Saisselin Art Building, according to court documents. He is not a Skidmore student.

In March, he wrote on the White House website's comment board from a computer at the Saratoga Springs Library that he was going to enter a school, take children hostage and kill them. Secret Service agents intercepted that message and contacted police, who arrested him near the library after that message was sent, according to authorities.